Barber: Cello Concerto & Sonata

Cellist Christian Poltéra turns to the music of Samuel Barber. He is joined by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Litton and pianist Kathryn Stott. Poltéra opens his programme with the Cello Concerto – one of only three concertos by Barber – which balances the natural lyric expressiveness of his earlier music with a more urgent, rhythmic and intense style. Poltéra and regular chamber-music partner Stott then perform the Sonata for Cello and Piano, composed while Barber was still a student. The disc closes with the enormously popular Adagio for strings. On previous discs, Christian Poltéra has combined concertos with chamber works by composers such as Frank Martin (BISCD1637) and Arthur Honegger (BISCD1617).